Easy Living (1937)

Mitchell Leisen: Easy Living (US 1937) with Edward Arnold (J. B. Ball), Jean Arthur (Mary Smith) and Ray Milland (John Ball, Jr.).

Un colpo di fortuna / Che bella vita / Vapaalippu paratiisiin / Pappa har en väninna.

    US 1937. Prod.: Arthur Hornblow Jr. per Paramount Pictures.

    D: Mitchell Leisen. SC: Preston Sturges. Sog.: Vera Caspary. DP: Ted Tetzlaff – b&w. PD: Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegté. M: Boris Morros. ED: Doane Harrison. C: Jean Arthur (Mary Smith), Edward Arnold (J. B. Ball), Ray Milland (John Ball Jr.), Luis Alberni (Mr. Louis Louis), Mary Nash (Mrs. Ball), Franklin Pangborn (Van Buren), Barlowe Borland (Mr. Gurney), William Demarest (Wallace Whistling). 

    88 min

    Language: English.

    Helsinki premiere: 8 Oct 1937 Savoy – distributed by Paramount Pictures.

    35 mm print from: Universal. Courtesy of: Park Circus.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2026: Easy Living with Mitchell Leisen.

    E-subtitles in Italian by Sub-Ti Londra.

    Introduced by Ehsan Khoshbakht

    Viewed at Cinema Jolly, 20 June 2026

Ehsan Khoshbakht (Bologna 2026): "J. B. Ball (Edward Arnold), the third-richest banker in America, bumps into the jobless blonde Mary Smith (Jean Arthur) by sheer accident (“kismet”) and, out of pure whim, gives her his estranged wife’s mink coat. Thanks to that coat, Easy Living joins the splendid lineage of “clothes-make-the-man” cinema that stretches from Murnau to Kiarostami, in which clothes generate expectations, presumptions, and social associations. Later, in another kismet, Mary bumps into the banker’s son (Ray Milland), who, in rebellion against his wealthy father, has chosen to work anonymously in a lunchroom. Here, the codes of appearance are delightfully skewed: she looks terrific but does not have a penny to her name; he looks drab but is a billionaire. The show-stealer, however, is the hotelier played by Spanish actor Luis Alberni with his uncanny ability to mix up English words and invent the most splendid malapropisms: “With a bit of your corruption we can achieve this.” He means, of course, “cooperation”, but the twisted word comes closer to the true meaning of the situation. The ambivalent treatment of the capitalist ethos – ruthless exploitation and corruption but one that nonetheless benefits everyone – owes more to writer Preston Sturges than to director Mitchell Leisen, the latter generally holding a more critical view of the rich. Sturges himself must have wrestled with the story source by communist author Vera Caspary to ensure that when a chef snarls, “You dirty capitalist”, it registers as a nod to capitalists’ sense of humour rather than an incitement to revolution. The inclusion of slapstick in Leisen’s cinema is rare and often unsuccessful; Easy Living is the sole instance in which it truly works, owing no doubt to Sturges. Yet the sequence set in the fully automatic eatery is reportedly unscripted and entirely Leisen’s invention. I would like to think that the motif of “entrapment by wealth” is also unscripted and the result of Leisen’s mise-en-scène, evident when, for instance, people in the corridors of the bank or the house constantly trip over an excess of objects." Ehsan Khoshbakht

IMDb synopsis: "When a wealthy banker throws his wife's expensive fur coat off a roof and it lands on the head of a stenographer, everyone assumes she is his mistress and has access to his millions."

AA: Il Cinema Ritrovato dedicates a superb retrospective to Mitchell Leisen, an architect by formation, also known as "le grand couturier". The costume and production designer contributed to the genesis of the Paramount style so much that he can be called an incarnation of the Paramount studio look. Having arrived at Hollywood in 1919, he became the costume designer for Cecil B. DeMille at Famous Player-Lasky (a predecessor of Paramount Pictures), then for United Artists for some of its most lavish spectacles including Robin Hood (Douglas Fairbanks) and Rosita (Mary Pickford / Ernst Lubitsch). In 1925 he returned to DeMille, now in a triple function, becoming also an assistant director. In 1932, Leisen switched to directing. During the golden age of Paramount, Leisen guided many of the biggest stars to some of their greatest roles over 20 years.

During Leisen's years in costume design, Hollywood grew into a global fashion trendsetter. In Easy Living, the opening movie of the Bologna retrospective, clothes are not only a key element but also a key subject. Clothing can be a status symbol but also a camouflage. It can be a statement or an illusion. We know that from Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat and the true story of Der Hauptmann von Köpenick.

When a fabulously expensive Kolinsky sable fur coat falls from heaven on the shoulders of Mary Smith (Jean Arthur), she instantly returns it but is offered it as a gift by one of the world's richest men, J. B. Ball (Edward Arnold). However, it is not clear whether the gift is a blessing or a curse. At her office, she is promptly fired, because everybody believes that the coat is a reward for services rendered, and that she is lying about its provenance.

Easy Living is a modern fairy-tale where the part of the prince is played by Ray Milland as John Ball, Junior. Having rebelled against his father, he is on his way down when he meets Mary. Unwittingly, the two young innocents are drawn to intrigues involving the hotel business and the scandal media.

Easy Living is one of the 1930s movies which reflect the Great Depression. It deals with the financial system in an attitude of spoof. Perhaps the fairy-tale is an accurate approach to the fictional dimension of financial speculation. The worship of money, the panic in the market, the precariousness of being when from dominance to bankruptcy is but one step: serious issues are discussed as an entertainment saga of the dream factory.

Sophisticated comedy and screwball comedy are difficult artforms. Slapstick is often underrated, but it is also extremely difficult to pull off really well. Ten points to Leisen for a good try.

I agree with Ehsan Khoshbakht that human comedy is Leisen's forte. I enjoy the integrity and dignity that Jean Arthur brings to her character. Instead of being smeared by intrigue, she transcends it with her warm presence, blithely ignoring tawdry innuendo.

The print has been struck from uneven sources, at times with a duped look, even like a blow-up from 16 mm. We know what Paramount did with its nitrate treasures, and the price to pay here is a loss of some of the fabulous Paramount elegance.